Eyes Like Broken Christmas Lights
by Eeeyitsilverbirch
Summary: SA2AU. Sonic and Shadow came back to the ARK. Just...they came back, together and a little different. Nothing to worry about, right? features an Amy Rose who is there for her friends! no ships here, BTW.
1. Eyes Like Broken Christmas Lights.

waaaaassup, its me, Silver, dissapointing myself, my parents, and Jesus once again.

so yeeeeah didn't write another chapter to Yellow and Blue but hey!!! wrote this!!!

so, yeah, enjoy

Tails' baby blue eyes frantically scanned the vacuum of space for a speck of gold, hopefully beaming as it voomed in closer and waved.

His two tails twisted in worry as all he continued to see was black. He felt the others beside him fidget uneasily.

Knuckles voiced everyone's concerns.

"What's taking those two so long?!" He complained almost too loudly. "You'd think they'd come back by now."

Rouge frowned at him before she raised her wrist to her mouth, the device on her wrist emmiting static.

"Shadow? Come in, Shadow. Shadow, can you read me?" No one answered and Rouge's brow furrowed in concern.

They all stared out the window once more.

The door slid open. Tails and Rouge turned in unison, hope in their eyes.

"Shadow?"

"Sonic!"

That wasn't Shadow or Sonic. They didn't know who that was. He looked incredibly unstable, panting as he wrapped tan arms around himself. His eyes darted around the room, flashing green, red, and purple.

Everyone took a step back, Knuckles stepping in front of Amy and Tails, snarling at the stranger.

Rouge eyed him uneasily. She spoke into her device once more.

"Shadow, we need you here, we got a potential threat in the area-"

Rouge stopped.

Her voice was coming from a similar watch on the strange hedgehog's wrist. He looked down on it, his eyes staying a passionate, familiar red before continuing on its flashing pattern. Rouge's face twisted into a frown, concern evident on her face. Tails darted past Knuckles and Amy, standing besides the bat with an equally worried expression.

The hedgehog's dilating eyes focused in on the two tailed kit, eyes turning a calming and trusting emerald green. He took a shuddering step towards him.

"Tai-" The hedgehog started before recoiling back. The voice had sounded wrong, two voices blending to make some sort of sound. At first, it had sounded like Sonic, the voice calling out to Tails almost pleadingly, but another voice joined the din, unwilling to ask for help of any sort.

"Sonic?" The fox asked with a tilt of his head. Concerned blue met confused green.

"Yes." The hedgehog -Sonic- replied, voice familer. "And no."

Rouge blinked, regonizing the other tone that had followed.

"Shadow, are you in there too?" Rouge found green quickly fading to red with an almost insane grin of relief.

"Yes! I'm in here with me!" Shadow seemed to call out, Sonic joining in the last second. "We're stuck."

Shadow- Sonic- whoever now looked torn, stuck between grabbing Tails for a hug or noggie, or running away as fast as he could.

Rouge faltered, she didn't know what to do. This was something entirely new. She didn't know how to help, how to get to the bottom of this. Tails didn't either, stepping them nervously. They almost frantically stepped backwards, nearly tripping over themselves as thier eyes widened and their breathing grew panicked. Tails stepped back, clearly the...fusion was in shock or wary for perhaps the reason they were stuck as one.

This had to be done with tact and consideration.

"What in Gaia's name happened to you two?!" Knuckles demanded, clearly concerned as he joined the party. Rouge growled under her breath, Tails mentally facepalming. Knuckles clearly hadn't thought this through.

The fusion looked like all of it wanted to run, eyes darting between the three and the door. They were probably trying to figure out where exactly to hide.

"We- I- he- falling - space, gonna-gonna, fall, die, Shadow- idiot, idiot,idiot!" Their voices clashed, clamboring over each other in one mouth, words lost to what could only be described as static or gibberish. Claws poked out of torn gloves and into their sides as they tightened the grip around themselves. It almost seemed like they were arguing with each other inside their combined head. "HE WAS GOING TO, SHOULD OF LET ME, STUPID, IDIOT, MORON, DUMBA-"

Their maniac rant was stopped by a flash of pink, darting past Knuckles, past Rouge and Tails, Amy Rose coming to the rescue. She stopped shy of two steps away from the fusion.

The combined duo jolted, taking a few frantic steps back, trying to put distance between themself and the bubblegum pink girl.

Amy was not deterired by this, grassy green eyes burning with determation and eagerness to help. She stayed where she was, hands up where they could see. She slowly, painfully closed the distance between them. Taking two steps for Shadow and Sonic's one.

She just as slowly lowered her hands, ignoring the flinch she gained when she removed their hands from their side.

"Hey." Her voice came softly, still commanding despite the gentleness. "Hey."

The multicolored eyes finally met hers, searching light green for……. Something.

"Start from the beginning. Go as slow or as fast as you two need to."

The hedgehogs squared nodded, hands shaking in hers. They took a deep breath.

"I was...We were…." They stopped, confusion and frustration crossing their face yet again.

"Take your time." Amy reminded him patiently. They hesitated for a minute before speaking again, slower this time.

"I was in space with me, ya know, and I started falling and I reached to catch me but I couldn't reach me and I was gonna fall and I grabbed me but I should of just let me fall and if i fell, it would have been my fault and I couldn't let me die and-" The duo seemed almost desperate to convey something, to themselves or Amy, no one knew. They put their head in their hands. "-but I had fulfilled my purpose but that's not what life is about and-"

Amy took his hands away from his face, shushing him gently.

"Do you know how you two got together?"

They shook their head, avoiding eye contact as they blinked away tears.

"No. There was a bright light and then we were...like this."

"Well…" she frowned sympatheticly before smiling with encouragement. "We'll find a way to fix this, okay, Shadic?"

"Shadic?" The hedgehog asked, confused. Amy nodded eagerly.

"It's your names combined! Do you like it?" She asked the last question hopefully.

They puzzled over the name before they smiled, like the sun coming out after a storm.

"It'll be perfect." The newly dubbed Shadic answered. Amy smiled back at them, turning to the others with her usual determined fire.

"Well? Are you all coming or not?" Amy demanded, nodding towards the door.

Rouge just smiled, fluttering after the three- two- hedgehogs. Tails frowned anxiously, Knuckles patting him on the shoulder as they followed close behind. Eggman stayed behind.

He was still trying to connect the idol of his youth to the monster of the present. That would take time.

All of this would take time.


	2. Hot Milk

Shadic didn't like nighttime. It was dark, the blackness seeming to press down on them, surrounding them at all sides. Shadic couldn't remember either of them being afraid of the dark, but everytime they closed their eyes, he was falling and he wasn't going to catch him in time and-

Yeah, Shadic didn't like the nighttime.

Shadic sat up from the bed, blue quills sticking around haphazardly. They yawned as they stretched, a sudden noise in a quiet night. Shadic didn't bother on slipping on his gloves or his shoes, he was too tired to go for a walk and they didn't think anyone else was up. Hopefully.

Shadic stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing bleary eyes as green and red scanned the room for others before allowing themselves to relax.

He hummed lightly as he opened the fridge, pulling out a Chaos Cola. It was one of the few beverages his mind could agree on, the buzz from the caffeine and sugar a pleasant distraction.

He leaned on the counter, gulping down half of it in one drink. They tried to rein in their dashing thoughts, both trains headed in two greatly different directions. Shadic sighed, admitting defeat to the battle of sleep. He'd just nap later in the day.

Shadic's ears perked up, hearing rustling from the other room. He stiffened for a moment before he spotted pale orange.

Tails sighed as he left his garage, his dark starry pajamas camouflaging his warm colored body into the night. His two tails trailed after him and making swishing noises as he dragged them against the cold, wooden floor. His claws clicked against the floor as he stepped into the kitchen.

Tails didn't notice the dark blue hedgehog at first, sitting down before his baby blue eyes finally adjusted to see the stock still form of the fusion of his brother and their new ally. They stared at each other before Tails broke the silence.

"Hey." Tails said, tapping his fingers against the table.

"Hey." Shadic responded. He held their soda in between their hands, the beverage giving off a chill. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Yeah," Tails nodded sheepishly. "You?"

Shadic just nodded, finally taking another drink of their soda.

"How come?" Tails questioned before Shadic froze and looked away. Oh. Sonic used to have tons of nightmares. Tails would be surprised if Shadow didn't have nightmares. Tails wasn't certain how it worked but he did know that it was likely Shadic had nightmares as well. "Do you...wanna talk about it?"

"..." Shadic was quiet for a minute, their eyes doing that flashy thing they did when they were at an indecision. "No."

Tails just hummed in response. He hadn't really expected a yes.

"...Do you want me to heat you up some milk?" Tails' head shot up at the statement. Shadic was now looking at him again, their eyes mainly sticking to green as they smiled awkwardly.

"You..would do that for me?" Tails questioned. It was one of Sonic's habits, if he couldn't sleep, his big brother would heat some milk up for him.

Shadic didn't do a lot of Sonic's Big Bro Habits. Shadic probably wanted to, at least part of them, but they were a bit busy trying to sort themselves out.

Shadic nodded, smile a bit less embarrassed. Tails couldn't help but smile back.

"I'd like that."


	3. Birthdays

"Ya know," started the red echidna, interrupting their meditation. "You technically have two birthdays."  
Shadic took a moment to consider if they should respond, considering how important quiet during this time was for Knuckles, but decided since Knuckles himself broke it, it'd be fine.  
"Really? How so?" the hedgehog times two questioned, turning multicolored eyes to the other. Knuckles leaned back, taking a more relaxed position on the grass beneath them.  
"Well, I mean, you're kinda two people. So that's two birthdays."  
"..." Shadic thought for a minute, frowning. "...Actually, that's not true. I- Shadow- wasn't born. He was created."  
Knuckles huffed, as if annoyed with the other's argument.  
"Well, he had to come from somewhere, so Creation Day, whatever." Knuckles didn't seem to notice the flinch at the term. "Actually, maybe three. Ya know, since you're not really Sonic or Shadow."

That seemed to concern Shadic, the hedgehog squared glancing nervously at the other.  
"...Really?"  
"Well, yeah! You're Shadic, you have your own likes and dislikes, your own sense of the world. You're both someone entirely new."  
"Oh….. I see." 

"Tails?"  
The young fox kit lifted his head at the sound of his name, turning curiously towards the other.  
"Oh, Shadic! How's it going?"  
"We're... fine," Shadic said slowly, almost unsure of their words. "We have a question, if it's not an issue."  
"Huh? Oh, sure! What is it?" Tails questioned, putting down the wrench he had just been using. Shadic looked embarrassed, as if the question was completely childish.  
"Knuckles and us were talking and he said we technically have three birthdays," Shadic murmured out. "We wanted your input."  
Tails hummed, leaning back. His small, fluffy face scrunched up as he thought.  
"Weeell….." Tails drawled, pushing his current project away to rest his elbows on his desk. "It really depends if we count Shadic- you- as your own individual person or not."  
Shadic frowned, twisting a ring on their wrist. They.. they didn't know whether they wanted to count as such. They mean, they are made of two people but they're not Sonic _or_ Shadow. This Shadic thing was nice, like a built-in buddy system. They didn't feel alone. But having a birthday for this thing would be…. It felt too **permanent**. But Shadic didn't feel like dumping all this on his - _Sonic's _\- eight year old brother.  
"...We don't know." Shadic murmured, crossing their arms and looking away.  
"Well, there's no need to decide, not now at least." Tails reassured, namesakes twitching behind. "Hate to say it but I've not made any more headway on how to separate you two. My research shows that Chaos Energy could be the cause but it's too, well, chaotic to really tell."  
Shadic frowned but nodded. They understood the kit was doing the best he could. Shadic startled at soft fur rubbing against their leg and glanced down, spying a clearly upset Tails. Shadic set their mouth to a thin line, guilt swelling in their chest.  
"...Tails?"  
"Hm?"  
"Do you- we mean, we know that you and Sonic were practically brothers and we know we haven't been the most brotherly? Would you prefer if we were more...Sonicily?"  
Whoa, whoa, what were they saying? They… they didn't want to do that! It wasn't that they didn't care for Tails, just that…..  
"_MARIA!"  
_….That now wasn't a good time in his life to try to brother anyone really. They just…  
It didn't feel right that he had taken someone from the kid's life, even though he didn't actually do that.  
But he did! No, he didn't. He made his choice and he was just as stuck as he was. But-!  
"What? Shadic, you're not Sonic!" the fox pulled them out of their head with his little almost exasperated tone of voice. "Look, I know Sonic and with what little I know of Shadow and the things I know about you, I can tell you're internalizing!"  
Shadic frowned at how easily they were being read. It was weird to feel so vulnerable in front of someone at least seven years younger than you.  
"Listen, I miss my brother, that's part of why I'm working so hard," Tails spoke like he was speaking to his little brother. "But I understand you're not him. Maybe one day if you're comfortable and still Shadic, you can be my brother too but you've been through a lot lately and in general. You need some time to be you before you're anyone's anything."  
Shadic hummed and nodded. A small part of them felt proud of Tails' words.  
"We understand. But we're still going to try to get over this!" Shadic admitted, determined. They didn't give up a challenge so easily!  
Tails snorted, shaking his head.  
"Of course you are. I look forward to it."

Shadic stirred the cookie dough mechanically, flour comedically covering their apron and the tip of their nose. They glanced over at Amy, who was halfway in her cabinet looking for sprinkles for the cookies.  
"Rosebud?" they said quietly. She let out a cry of triumph and then pain as she found the sprinkles and then bumped her head on the top of the cabinet.  
"Ow- Yeah, Shadic?" her voice echoed as she crawled out.  
"Um, are you alright?" Shadic questioned, not sure to be concerned or not. Amy waved their words away with her free hand, pulling out with dusty, pastel pink quills.  
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine! Now, what's up?"  
"Uh, what would your reaction be if we had three birthdays?"  
Amy rose to her feet, taking the bowl from them and scooping the dough onto a pan.  
"Plan out another cake and party." her tone was casual, as if the question had already been answered a long time ago.  
"Oh. Wait," Shadic did a double take. "Did you say another?"  
"Oh, yeah." the pink hedgehog brushed quills out of her face, she was growing it out, as she placed the pan in the pre heated oven. "I've already planned out Sonic and Shadow's, the only problem is I don't know when Shadow was born, or, rather, made."  
Amy looked at them expectantly. Shadic blinked, dumbfounded.  
"Uh ...June 19." they forced out. Amy smiled brightly and brushed the dust off herself.  
"Alright! Now, what flavor of cake do you want?"


	4. Two Way Street

Shadow was a closed off mind, quiet and mysterious. Sonic was an open mind, a book full of pages and pages.  
Shadow found that Sonic's mind was rather interesting, the other hedgehog's highs being clearly high and the lows devastatingly low. It was almost saddening how high of a pedestal Sonic placed himself on when he was just one little hedgehog.  
Well. Not anymore he supposed, their two minds tangled like a ball of yarn. They spent many nights ignoring sleep by unraveling their thoughts and soon the difference was more distinguishable. Shadow instantly raised mental walls, refusing to let Sonic know what he was thinking unless it was necessary. Sonic however was a flood of ideas, cascading into their shared head, not even hesitating to at least try and act on these thoughts. Shadow always retained him, not wanting to look weak.  
It was a little disappointing when he stopped trying to initiate physical contact with his friends.

It felt a little weird to know Sonic's mind was right there, open to be cracked like an egg. Shadow had spent most of his life playing mental chess except with…  
No, no, no more showing weakness, not in front of Faker. He had shown enough already and the hedgehog's pity flooding him constantly was sickening.  
And then there were the blue one's responsibilities. Leave it to the Doctor to force Shadic to leave bed.

Shadic didn't understand how the Doctor Egghead had recovered so quickly from the ARK Incident. If anything, he should be as recluent to fight as Shadic was!  
At least most of the mad scientist's forces were easily crushed, crushed like a soda can.  
"Shadic!" the kitsune called out to the one person duo. "We need to get to Station Square! That's where Eggman and his giant machine is!"  
Shadic frowned but nodded, metal crumpling under their foot. With a speed boost, they were carving through the layers of badniks like a knife through hot butter.  
They slowed for a minute, needing to recharge again before bursting.  
Shadic froze at the sound of a person. They wheeled around to spy a family of sheep on top of an overturned minivan in a sea (sea, sea, _sea, __**sea, SEA-**_) of badniks. They move to help them but hesitate.  
Why aren't they helping?! Can't they see those people are in trouble?! Yes, but wouldn't it be easier to just eliminate the source?  
One of the children slips on their isle and nearly falls into the rising waters (**water, water, **_**water, WATER**_) of machines, bleating in panic. Their mother cries out and grabs them, pulling them back into her grasp.  
There's no time! They have to get those people out before they're seriously hurt, but the Doctor would probably get further away, but these people are in trouble NOW, but the best way to help was, NO, HE COULDN'T JUST STAND TO THE SIDE, THEY'LL DIE, HE'LL FAIL AGAIN, NOT AGAIN, NO.  
7The sheer panic in their mind shocked them into action, a well aimed kick sending the motobugs flying.  
"It's safe, come on down," Shadic assured, smiling comfortingly. The family inched down the overturned car, the two hogs for the price of one helping every step of the way.  
"Thank you." the mother said gratefully, pressing a hoof to their shoulder before leaving for shelter with her family. Shadic allowed themself to bask in that feeling of success before kicking themself into gear, boosting long recharged.

Eggman seemed to be surprised when Shadic burst on the scene.  
"Sonic?" he questioned, raising a hairy eyebrow up his bald skull.  
"No and yes. Shadic for now." the fusion responded in clipped replies. After what happened earlier, they had put a tighter grip on their emotions. Eggman just stared at them for a second.  
"Oh." Eggman shrugged. "Still gonna kill you."  
The Dragoon Robot burst to life, drills whirling and lasers firing. Shadic sighed.  
They just wanted to sleep…...  
A drill dived down, Shadic barely able to move in time to avoid his ear getting sliced clean off. A spear of pure, rippling, purple chaos energy appeared in the hedgehog(s)' open palm before it slammed shut, Shadic grabbing the drill's wire and slashing down on the drill, the repurposed tool cut clean in half.  
They didn't waste a second to leap up onto the drill's arm, another spear bursting to life in their hand. Shadic raced up the wired arm, weaving past lasers and other drills, all in a mad scramble to quickly reach the cockpit.  
They weren't fast enough to avoid the metallic claw, that immediately pinned them up against a skyscraper. They hissed, already feeling bruises form under their fur.  
"OHOHOHO!" Eggman howled. "I have you now! I'll eliminate with you and finally-"  
"For Chaos' sake, will you just kill us already?"  
"Wha- " Eggman faltered, arms falling from their dramatic posture. "What?"  
Shadic stares at the oversized man with an angry and tired expression. If this was Sonic, it would be said with a teasing lit in his voice in an attempt of angering the man and getting more time, but this is not Sonic and so the words carry the burden of a boy with a mountain of regrets.  
Their eyes beam red as they dangle from the tyrantic man's grasp and somehow it feels like Eggman is trapped with them and not the opposite.  
"You heard me," Shadic growls out. "You go on and on about how you're gonna destroy us but you never do. You threaten and demand but you can never pull the trigger, can you?"  
Eggman goes to respond but is stopped by Shadic, a cascade that once started seemed to overflow.  
"And why? You've never hesitated before, not in that shabby little hole you called a lab and not now in your flying fortresses. You've never been afraid to bloody your hands so what's one more life? What's two? Think about it, you can eliminate the problem before it begins if you just kill us."  
Shadic wasn't even sure of half of what they were saying. It sounded right but they weren' around for that…..  
At least, half of them weren't.  
"So what are you waiting for? Why are you hesitating, hm? You don't care about us, you don't care about anyone!" Shadic could feel themselves crying but their thoughts were pounding in their head like hammers, they couldn't focus. "Why don't you just do something right for once and KILL ME?!"  
Silence ruled the square, only Shadic's shaky breaths heard.  
The claw pulled itself free, Shadic automatically catching themself as they fell.  
"Okay, WOW," Eggman said, rubbing his eyes. "Clearly you still are reacting to these last few adventures. I'll give you some time to rest because, Light Gaia, do you need it. I'll be back with a really evil plot, until then, GET SOME HEALTHY COPING MECHANISMS, sheesh."  
The robot rolled away, Shadic too shell shocked to do anything. Their face was still wet.  
They heard the sounds of fur cutting through air and stood up, not facing Tails.  
"Shadic? What happened?" the eight year old asked.  
"We're going for a walk." Shadic said quietly. "We'll give you a full update when we get back."  
"Shadic, wai-" they didn't stick around to hear the rest of Tails' sentence, already gone.

Shadic ran into a tree, gasping as the full force of what they said to Eggman hit them.

Shadow's thoughts darted around but somehow it still felt emptier than usual.  
_Faker, I-_the thought ended as they hit a wall. Shadow buzzed with displeasure and confusion. What had happened? Why couldn't he feel Sonic?  
He pressed a tentative thought to their mind, feeling it bump off a….. wall? Sonic knew how to do that?  
Well, he supposed the quiet was appreciated.

It wasn't appreciated, not at all, it was too quiet and too loud and, wow, Shadow forgot how his mind could spiral sometimes.  
He had no idea the blue hog had been keeping him so grounded throughout all of this.  
Shadow pressed against the wall again, the resistance being an almost midnight blue feeling.  
What had gotten into the other? Why had he closed up? Was it what just happened? Oooooh, why didn't he take advantage of Sonic's open mind and at least look for common weakness of Sonic's foes?  
He couldn't reach the other, not like this. If he wanted to get to the bottom of this, he had to...he had to… he had to lower his guard.  
Shadow shuddered, only once, before slowly loosening his defenses, his thoughts cascading out into the space.  
Shadow pressed against Sonic's wall, testing its strength.  
Whoa. This was gonna be harder than he thought.  
_Faker?_ the thought echoed. _Sonic? Listen, I… I'm sorry about forcing you to say all that stuff._  
Nothing.  
_Sonic, look, I- Ugh, I can't do this without you. This is a two man operation. I'll promise to be a better headmate or whatever, just tell me what's going on._  
The border shuddered, as if Sonic was considering it.  
_I just, I just want to help._  
The wall didn't move and Shadow feared he'd sent the wrong message before-  
The wall slammed down and a cascade of melancholy blue washed over concerned red.  
Sonic's thoughts echoed memories of failure after failure; a white glove missing the falling hand of a terrified man, screams silenced by water's cold embrace, a hedgehog that looked like a star but was determined to plummet like a comet.  
Now, Shadow was clearly in the 'Doesn't deserve forgiveness and should have been left for dead' camp so it kinda stung how Sonic considered this thought process was his fault or responsibility. Oh no, this mess was all Shadow. Stupid 'hog and his stupid thing for saving people.  
_You can't save everyone._  
_I should at least try._  
Oh, there's the issue. And honestly, it was a little annoying how familiar it was.  
_You did. You did your best and next time-_  
_Next time, what, you'll burn up in the atmosphere, completely convinced there's nothing worth living for and that you don't deserve forgiveness for manipulation?_  
_Um. No._ Shadow winced. Sonic and his big heart, darn it. _Next time, you'll have me and knowledge from past experiences to help you._  
_..._ Sonic was quiet before softly saying,_ Really?_

Shadow tried not to get sucked into a memory of the past. He may be opening up but he wasn't ready for that part just yet.  
_Yeah. But don't make me regret it, Faker.__  
Heh...I won't._

_...wanna get some chili dogs?  
__Hmmm, I'd prefer burgers.__  
Oh, what about Sloppy Joes?  
__What are those?__  
Oooooh, boy, you're gonna love this…._


End file.
